


don't you go

by noahczerns



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: AU, Friends to Lovers, Hogwarts AU, M/M, also angst, ari has a Huge Crush, gina is also in it i can't remember if she has a surname lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:41:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4666902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noahczerns/pseuds/noahczerns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ari and Dante Hogwarts AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	don't you go

**Author's Note:**

> i dont think my characterisation of ari is the greatest but!!!!! mexican wizard boys!!! what more could u ask for

Ari is in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He had decided to take Care of Magical Creatures as an extra class this year, and that’s where he meets Dante. 

Ari kept to himself a lot. Sure, he had friends within his house, Gryffindor, but they weren’t exactly close. Some of them were quite annoying actually, especially Gina who played with him on the quidditch team as a beater. Ari loved being able to play quidditch; being a chaser he loved the biting harshness of wind in his face, a quaffle under his arm as he flew towards the hoops and hearing the entirety of the Gryffindor house cheering when he scored. He also loved just being in that single moment, the exhilaration of being hundreds of feet into the air, his fears and struggles long forgotten; especially those about his brother. Ari’s mother and father refused to discuss what had become of his brother, but Ari had his suspicions. Everyone knew what the people in Azkaban were, and his parents’ evasiveness only made him more certain that he was right. 

*

“Ari, we have to go. We’ll be late for the Care of Magical Creatures,” Ari’s head snapped up, he’d been doing History of Magic homework in the Gryffindor common room and had dozed off. Gina was looking down at him with her eyebrows raised, waiting for a response. “I’ll leave without you if you don’t hurry up.”

Ari rubbed his eyes hastily and said, “I’m coming, hang on,” he rushed to pick up his parchment and ink and made his way towards the dormitories to grab his books and put away his homework. He looked back at Gina who had crossed her arms and was growing more impatient by the second. “I won’t be long!” He returned with his arms free of homework, and a harsh glare from Gina. They walked as fast as they could without running out of the common room and towards the grounds, where they would have their first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures with the Ravenclaws. 

Ari hadn’t met many Ravenclaws in his time at Hogwarts as he shared most of his classes with Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. He had heard the stereotype, that they were snobby and stuck up, and he hoped that they would be different. He didn’t want this class ruined by a bunch of know it alls. He had enough of that when he was around Gina. 

“Do you know any Ravenclaws?” Ari asked, he wanted to know what he was letting himself in for before the lesson started. 

“I know some. They’re alright. Don’t you have any lessons with them?” 

“No. I never have.” he thought it was strange, now that he thought about it, but he didn’t question it. Who knew how the student time tables were sorted, anyway? He was quiet for the rest of the journey to the outdoor classroom (that wasn’t really a classroom). His eyes taking in the vast landscape, no matter how many times he saw it and walked through it, the view was still enough to take the breath out of his lungs. It was a different world to the city he’d lived in before; he missed El Paso and his parents greatly, but it was worth it. 

*

Ari and Gina were almost the last ones to make it to class, except for a few Ravenclaws that trailed in a few seconds behind them. Ari suspected they had spent too long in the library considering the amount of books they were carrying between them, with titles completely irrelevant to the lesson at hand. The teacher announced that because it was the first lesson of the subject for many, they would be starting small. He also said that small didn’t necessarily mean safe. The students were led to an area that was enclosed by a fence and contained creatures that Ari had never seen before, and certainly couldn’t put a name to. There was whispers amongst the students of “What the hell are they?” and “I hope he doesn’t make us touch them…” and Ari had to agree with them. He didn’t particularly fancy being within touching distance with the creatures and he began to think that maybe this class was a bad idea, he wanted to live to see the next year, after all. 

“Everyone find a partner stand and with one of these guys!” The teacher instructed whilst opened the gate to the enclosure and gesturing with his free hand for the students to go in. Most people were reluctant, but one Ravenclaw boy strolled in with an excited grin on his face. Ari noticed that his smile radiated to the rest of him. His uniform was slightly dishevelled, his tie loose and his shirt untucked. It made him stand out from the rest of the Ravenclaws, who didn’t have a single crease in theirs. Ari also noticed that, strangely, he wasn’t wearing any shoes. 

Ari felt something digging into his ribs. He pulled his gaze away from the boy and saw that it was Gina’s elbow. “Are you coming? Or are you going to stare at that pretty boy with your mouth gaping open all day?” 

Ari almost choked. “What? I wasn’t staring… He doesn’t have shoes on, don’t you think that’s weird?”

“If he doesn’t want to wear shoes and he’s prepared to step in some shit, why should he?” 

“Fair point.” They walked towards the open gate and Ari tried to keep his staring at a minimum, but he couldn’t help but notice the boy was often looking at him, too. 

The task that had been set for that lesson was to examine the creature, label it’s body parts and try to identify it from a list of names and descriptions they had been given. It would have been easier if the creature didn’t have such menacing features. Sharp claws, pointed teeth, beady eyes that seemed to follow you wherever you went. Ari found himself subconsciously drawing his gaze away from the creature in front of him and searching for the boy he had seen at the beginning of the lesson. He spotted him a few feet away, he was petting one of the creatures, his eyes full of wonder, his other hand scribbling notes on a piece of parchment that was slowly slipping from his knee. Ari found himself in awe, and slightly jealous, of how comfortable the boy was with the creature, and how comfortable the creature seemed with him. The boy turned to pick up one of the books that way lying next to his feet. He caught Ari’s gaze along the way and gave him a toothy grin, similar to the one on his eager face earlier. Ari quickly turned his head in embarrassment as his felt his cheeks warm, he was sure they were glowing red, along with the tips of his ears. Gina was with the creature next to his, and to Ari’s annoyance, she had seen the entire exchange. 

“Staring again, were we?” she said smugly, one eyebrow raised. “Don’t deny it. You’re blushing, Ari Mendoza.” 

“Shut up.” he mumbled, letting his dark hair fall over his face. He didn’t look in the direction of the boy for the rest of the class, he didn’t need to give Gina even more of a reason to tease him. He knew she was only joking but it still got irritating after a while.

Ari managed to decipher the name of the creature after he got over his initial fear of its sharp edges although he felt he may need to do more research later on if he wanted to do well. There were lots of similarities between the different creatures he would be working with within the class and he thought he had better come prepared next time. He made a mental note to go to the library after his next lesson, which was Transfiguration.

*

Ari always enjoyed Transfiguration so it passed pretty quickly and it was soon time to leave. The class filed out of the door and the students all went their separate ways along the corridors and Ari started towards the library. 

The musty scent of century old books reached his nose when he came within a few feet on the door. It was becoming all too familiar as he realised how much he needed to study in order to do well in his OWLs that year. He pushed the door open and walked towards the Magical Creatures section. He scanned the shelves with his eyes and ran his fingers over the rough edges of the book spines. He loved to feel the different textures that each book had to see which was were the most worn and used. He reached the end of the shelf and picked out a book with the title “A Guide to Distinguishing Magical Creatures”, it was sea green with a golden engraving of a giant squid on the front. He was turning the pages to the contents page when he heard footsteps near him. Barefoot footsteps. The sound was unmistakeable, exposed skin on hard flooring. He took a sharp intake of breath, feeling every muscle, vein and bone in his body. He had to compose himself he thought, he wasn’t going to look like an idiot again. Maybe the boy hadn’t noticed it was him, or even remembered him and he was overreacting. The footsteps drew closer.

“Hey, you were in my Care of Magical Creatures class, right?” Ari turned his head to see the boy standing right next to him. He was smiling, not as big as he had before, but it was still there. He recognised his voice from somewhere but he couldn’t quite figure out where. 

“Uh, yeah…” he replied. He wasn’t great at conversing with new people. Especially when they weren’t wearing shoes. 

“I knew it!” his smile widened and Ari swallowed as he felt his cheeks flush. Again. “Anyway, would you mind helping me with something? I was going to do some extra research on for class but I don’t really know where to start, and well, it looks like you do.” He gestured towards the book in Ari’s hand and then he said, “I’m Dante, by the way.” 

“I’m Ari. Aristotle.” Ari didn’t know why he said the second part. This boy he didn’t need to know his full embarrassing name. “I can help you if you want, sure. But I’m not exactly sure where to start either. This is just a guess.” he waved the book and laughed nervously. 

“Two heads are better than one!” he smiled even wider, if that were possible. “There’s a table free over there, shall we go sit?” Ari nodded, grabbed a few more books off the shelf and followed Dante to the table add the end of the row, trying his best not to trip over his feet. He was sure he’d make a fool of himself soon enough. Ari passed a few of the books to Dante’s side as he sat down at the table. 

“Where do you want to start?” 

“That’s the whole reason I asked you to help me!” Dante grinned, it was the same thing that Gina did when Ari said something stupid, but somehow he didn’t feel hurt or annoyed when Dante did. Ari could only smile back and open one of the books for them both to read. 

Dante was in the middle of reading aloud from one of the books when Ari exclaimed, “You’re the quidditch commentator! That’s where I know your voice from!” 

“Took you long enough! You play for a team as well!” Dante jokingly shook his head in disbelief. 

“Well I spend most of my time chasing the quaffle, not listening out for your next bad joke.” 

“Hey! My jokes aren’t bad! Take that back!” he was pouting, pretending to look hurt. 

“They’re awful, Dante. I hate to break it to you.” Ari replied, he tried to keep a straight face but a smile broke through. 

“I’m so offended. Guess which team’s going to be the punchline at the next game.” He cupped his hands together to form a megaphone around his mouth, “GRYFFINDOOOOOOOR!” 

Ari put his finger to his lips, trying to hold in his laughter. “Sshhh! We’re in a library, remember?!” 

Dante looked at all the books around them and said, “How could I forget?” 

*  
The two boys continued to meet at the library at the same time every few days. They took it in turns to read the text books out loud to each other. Ari could retain the information better after listening to him. He secretly really liked the sound of Dante’s voice, too. Gina often said “You spend more time with him than me!” and would nudge Ari when she saw Dante gazing at him when he wasn’t looking. One evening when Ari was sat in the common room relaxing with her she had said; “It’s ridiculous how you two aren’t together yet, it’s so obvious you both like each other.” Ari had almost choked on his drink.

“It’s not like that!” Ari had a hard time convincing himself sometimes, let alone someone else.

“Really? Because whenever one of you is looking at the other your eyes form literal hearts. Literal hearts. I’m not joking, Ari. It’s painstakingly obvious. To everyone.” 

Gina was right. It wasn’t rare that the Ravenclaw students would see Ari in the Ravenclaw common room sat on the sofas with Dante, their legs a tangled mess between them as they fell asleep together doing homework. 

*

Ari had started spending most of his free time with Dante now, too. They wouldn’t just meet up to help each other with the latest Care of Magical Creatures homework, they would be together just because they could. Ari savoured every moment. He loved to watch how close Dante was with his owl, he had never seen a bond between a boy and a bird like theirs before. 

One afternoon when they were on the grounds, leaning their backs against a tree and Ari was more distanced and lost in thought than usual, his eyebrows furrowed as he looked out on the grounds. 

“What’s the matter? Is something wrong?” Dante asked, sitting up and turning his head to look at Ari directly, trying to catch his eye.

“What? Oh it’s nothing really…” Ari shrugged. He didn’t really want to load Dante with his worries, he probably had enough of his own.

“Come on, I know there’s something. You can tell me anything, you know that right?” his voice was serious and kind, his head tilted in concern.

“I don’t know… I’ve just been thinking a lot about my brother lately. About what happened with him,” he sighed, was he really about to unload all this on Dante? “I think… I think he was a Death Eater. That’s why he’s in prison and why my parents won’t talk about him. It just doesn’t make sense, though. I mean, I know was only small when he left but he wasn’t like that,” he paused and then said, “What if I’m like him, Dante?” he turned to look at him, his eyes wide with fear. Dante put his hand on top of his. Ari hoped he wouldn’t noticed how clammy it was or how his heart rate had increased dramatically as soon as their skin touched.

“I know you’re not like that,” he smiled sadly and then said “and if you were, I’d soon put you in your place.” 

Ari leaned his head back, closed his eyes and let out a laugh. “Thanks. I’d do the same for you.” It felt like a lie, though. He knew that Dante didn’t have an ounce of bad blood in him.   
*

It was Saturday, and the day of the next quidditch match. Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff. Ari had been attending practices almost every day and he was ready to win.  
Ari tied his hair into a bun, as it was getting considerably long now, and strolled onto the pitch with the rest of the team with his broomstick in hand. Their gold and red robes flapped around their legs in the light wind. The captain was spewing some last minutes words of wisdom, but Ari was barely listening. They had trained for weeks, what good was a couple of words now? 

He could hear Dante’s voice through the enchanted speakers, spurring the crowd into excitement. The Gryffindor house cheered when they spotted their team walking onto the pitch and Ari’s heart soared. The feeling never ceased to amaze him. The fluttering in his chest increased when he saw Dante waving and smiling at him from the commentator’s box. He grinned and waved back. 

The teams got into their positions, standing opposite each other in a line on the pitch and waited apprehensively for the game to start. Ari dug his feet into the gravel beneath him so that he would be able to get a good lift off and listened for the whistle that would signal the start of the game. Seconds later, the sound of the whistle pierced the air and the players kicked off the ground as someone opened the case that contained all of the balls. The balls shot out of the case and Ari searched for the quaffle in the blur as he gained height. For most people it would be difficult to distinguish between the varying types of ball because they flew so fast and were generally the same colour (except the snitch, obviously) but Ari had been on the team for several years now, and he knew a quaffle when he saw one. Spotting the quaffle a few feet away from him, he dove towards it and scooped it up with his right hand. 

“Ari Mendoza has got the quaffle! Amazing! What a talented man… Shame his jokes don’t fall into his talents though!” said Dante into the microphone, Ari shook his head and laughed a little as he turned directions towards the opposing team’s hoops. He could sense someone on his tail but he resisted the urge to turn around to see who it was, the last time he had done that he didn’t see a bludger heading right his way and ended up in a heap on the floor. He didn’t exactly want to do that today with Dante watching him.   
“Ari Mendoza is heading straight for Hufflepuff’s hoops! Is he going to score? YOU BET HE IS!” 

“What about Gryffindor’s seeker? His headed right for the snitch already!” someone shouted towards Dante, little did Ari know that Dante only seemed to be watching him.   
Ari continued to fly across the pitch with the quaffle safely under his arm, he began to slow down when he became within throwing distance of the hoops and quickly checked to see where Hufflepuff’s beaters were. Luckily for him they were too preoccupied with the seeker, which gave him a shot without fear of getting hit by a bludger. The keeper had seen Ari out of the corner of his eye and locked onto his position. Ari estimated which hoop would give him the best chance of scoring, and lifted his arm up to throw the quaffle straight into the hoop on the left. He forced all of his strength into him arm and threw the quaffle. The keeper didn’t react quickly enough. It flew straight through the hoop.  
“ARI MENDOZA SCORES FOR GRYF-” Dante’s celebratory shout was cut short. It was replaced with the sound of bludger hitting flesh. Ari knew that sound a little too well.   
Ari whipped around to the direction of the noise, where Dante had been standing cheerily only seconds ago. He couldn’t see him, but he saw the hole in the wooden stand where the bludger had ripped through. It was directly in the path of Dante. 

Ari felt adrenaline rush through him as he made his way towards the tower where Dante was. The other players were carrying on with the game, but Ari couldn’t. Not until he knew Dante was okay. His heart was pounding in his chest, his brain frantic with all the possible outcomes. He knew how fatal a bludger hit could be.

He landed in the tower where many students were already gathering. He pushed through them forcefully, leaving his broomstick behind. He had to see him. Now.   
He pushed through to the front and he didn’t want to believe what his eyes were seeing. The bludger had hit Dante right in the chest. He was slumped over against the wall of the tower. The force of the bludger had shoved him backwards into it. The bludger had long since flown away, unaware of the damage that it had caused. To both Dante and Ari. He stood there in shock, he wanted to run to him, to check his pulse, to stroke his hair and tell him it was all going to be okay but his feet stuck firmly to the ground. He could hear Madam Pomfrey making her way through the crowd, tears were filling his eyes and threatening to spill onto his cheeks. 

“Make way, make way! Let me see the boy!” said Madam Pomfrey as she pushed through the last of the students and sat by Dante. She put two fingers to his neck, “He’s got a pulse, but he’s not breathing. Someone help me get him to the hospital wing. Now.”   
*  
It had been 3 days since Dante was hit by the bludger and he made no signs of waking up. Madam Pomfrey had assured Ari that he needn’t stay by his side every second, that she would notify him immediately if there were any changes but that wasn’t a chance Ari was willing to take. During those 3 days Ari had realised how much Dante meant to him. How much he enjoyed eating with him at meal times, doing homework together, laughing together. He longed so much for Dante to wake up, just to see him smile one more time, to see how ridiculous he looked when he walked around the castle in his robes without any shoes on and to see how gentle he was with even the scariest of creatures.   
Ari had his head on Dante’s chest, listening to the routine thump thump thump of his heart and feeling the rise and fall with every breath he took, just to make sure that he was still alive. That his Dante was still in there somewhere. “Why won’t you just wake up…” he whispered, his breath caught in his throat as he tried to stifle a sob. “I love you, you idiot.” he mumbled into his chest, his lips catching Dante’s clothes. The smell of him, this close, was overwhelming.

Ari felt Dante vibrate underneath him all of a sudden, he heard a quiet groan from the direction of Dante’s mouth. He sat up quickly to see Dante stirring. His eyes tentatively opening, sensitive to the bright lights in the hospital wing. “How long was I out?” Dante asked, his voice was groggy from lack of use. 

Ari had never been so happy to hear someone’s voice and wrapped his arms around him, which, admittedly was difficult as Dante was still lying down. “Too long! 3 days! I’ve been so worried, I thought you might not wake up…” 

“Huh. I thought wizard medicine might be better than the muggle stuff, but it appears not.” Dante smiled his toothy grin that Ari loved.

“You’ve been awake all of 5 seconds and you’ve already made a joke. I can’t believe you.” Ari said, he tried to look annoyed but he couldn’t mask his relief. 

“You love it. Speaking of... did you really mean that stuff you said? Just now…” Dante’s smile faded as he saw Ari’s face fall into panic.

“You heard that? I thought you were asleep…”

“I was just too tired to open my eyes. I tried but I couldn’t. I wanted to say something.” 

“It’s fine if you don’t feel the same!” Ari said hurriedly, “You don’t have to reciprocate anything, it’s fine. I’m fine. I’m just happy you’re okay.”

Dante shook his head and laughed. “You idiot. You cute, adorable idiot.” 

Ari raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What… what do you mean?” 

Dante’s laughing increased and he ran a hand through his hair. “When I asked you to help me, when we first met, that was me flirting.”

“Asking for help with homework is not flirting!” Ari protested. He was laughing now, too. 

“We’re both idiots then, aren’t we?” Dante reached out his hand to touch Ari’s face, and Ari’s heart fought to break out of his chest. Dante sat up, he winced a little but he moved forward to get closer to Ari. They sat there for a moment, breathing each other’s air, their lips ghosting over each other. Ari couldn’t believe this was really happening. Dante Quintana was about to kiss him. Dante leaned in those few extra millimetres and close the gap between them. Ari fumbled to put his hand on Dante’s back, and he was suddenly aware of how chapped his lips were in comparison Dante’s soft ones. He was new to this, but Dante seemed to know what he was doing; lightly biting his lip and pecking the edge of his mouth in between breaths. Ari whispered into Dante’s mouth, “I’ve wanted to do that for so long.” 

“Me too,” Dante replied, Ari could feel his smile inside his mouth when their lips came together again. 

They heard the door to the hospital wing open and Gina’s voiced called, “Ari, you can’t miss practice again! Madam Pomfrey said-” she stopped in her tracks when she saw the two boys, lips interlocked. She crossed her arms and said, smiling, “About damn time!” 

*

Dante had been out of the hospital wing for a few weeks now, and it was time for the Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor quidditch match. Ari had tried to convince Dante to not commentate, but Dante said defiantly, “I can’t not commentate when my boyfriend is playing! What kind of boyfriend would that make me?” and Ari knew there was no way of swaying his stubborn ass. 

After the usual pre-match pep talk from the captain, the Gryffindor team walked out onto the pitch with their broomsticks in hand. Ari was feeling considerably nauseous as the memory of the previous match was still vivid in his mind and he never wanted to go through that again. 

“There they are! My boyfriend’s team! Aristotle Mendoza! My boyfriend!” came the voice from the speakers, echoing over the entire stadium. Ari felt his cheeks turn pink. 

Ari took his position on the pitch as he had done so many times before and prepared to take off. The referee went through the routine rules; nothing too rough, a clean game and then blew the whistle to signify the start of the game. Ari kicked off and immediately searched for the quaffle, whilst simultaneously keeping an eye out for the bludgers. Gina, who was also a chaser, had caught the quaffle, so Ari flew in the same direction as them, ready to catch it if they got into any trouble. The cold wind biting at his face, it was more intense the faster he went. 

“Ari! Catch this!” he heard Gina call, there was a bludger headed straight their way. When she saw that she had his attention she threw the quaffle in his direction. Ari lifted his arms and brought the quaffle to his chest. 

“ARI MENDOZA HAD THE QUAFFLE. DID YOU HEAR THAT? ARI MENDOZA, MY BOYFRIEND, HAS THE QUAFFLE! HE’S SO TALENTED! HE’S GOING TO GIVE GRYFFINDOR THE WIN!” Dante’s voice called out from down below. Ari also heard the shouts of annoyed Ravenclaws; “You’re supposed to be rooting for Ravenclaw!” “You can’t be biased towards him just because he’s you’re boyfriend!” but these didn’t deter Dante at all. 

Ari knew that if he scored this point and their team caught the snitch they’d be in the finals for sure. He leaned forwards to increase his speed and flew towards the Ravenclaw hoops. The Ravenclaw keeper was good, but so was Ari. The keeper was locked onto Ari and following his every move, he would have to work out a way to deter him. He flew to the middle of the hoops, narrowly avoiding a bludger one of the Ravenclaw beaters had hit towards him. He began to aim for the hoop in the middle, hoping the keeper would take the bait. The keeper rushed towards the hoop in the middle when he saw what he was doing and then at the last second Ari turned and threw the quaffle into the hoop on the far right. Cheers erupted from the Gryffindor house below him. 

“ARI MENDOZA DOES IT AGAIN! THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A CHASER EVEN HALF AS GOOD AS MY ARI!” Ari chuckled to himself and felt his cheeks burn. Dante had never been one for subtlety. 

All they needed now was for their seeker to catch the snitch. The Ravenclaw team knew this and now they focused all their efforts onto the Gryffindor seeker. Ari saw that their seeker was closing in, the snitch was finger’s breadth away. The entire Ravenclaw team was surrounding them and Ari held his breath in anticipation. Their fingers enclosed around the golden ball and Ari cheered along with the rest of the Gryffindors. 

“GRYFFINDOR HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS! IT’S ALL THANKS TO ARI MENDOZA’S AMAZING CHASER SKILLS OBVIOU-” Dante’s voice trailed off as someone had grabbed the microphone out of his reach and Ari laughed as his made his descent towards the ground. 

As he neared the ground he saw Dante running out onto the pitch towards him with a radiant smile on his face, his eyes wide and full of pride. Ari felt his feet touch the gravel and he put his broomstick under his arm and walked towards Dante. When Dante reached his he opened his arms wide and pull Ari into a hug.

“You were so great! Absolutely incredible!” he practically yelled into Ari’s ear and Ari couldn’t help but smile as he put his own arms around Dante and buried his face into his neck.   
“Couldn’t have done it without you cheering me on.” he said, feeling at home in his arms. Ari had found another place where he could forget about his fears, and it was Dante Quintana.


End file.
